KM3NeT is an international collaboration currently engaged in the development of a neutrino detector situated in the Mediterranean Sea. By investigating atmospheric neutrinos, its objective is to...Show moreKM3NeT is an international collaboration currently engaged in the development of a neutrino detector situated in the Mediterranean Sea. By investigating atmospheric neutrinos, its objective is to explore the fundamental characteristics of neutrinos, while also striving to study astro-particle physics by detecting high-energy neutrinos originating from celestial objects. Neutrinos interacting with seawater surrounding the detector create muons that emit Cherenkov radiation that can be detected. The reconstruction software employed aims to determine the energy and direction of these muons. This thesis briefly studies the underlying model, referred to as the PDF, shedding qualitative light on some of its internal mechanisms. The reconstruction software comprises a prefit stage and a fit of the PDF. In the second part of this thesis, the watershed algorithm is shown to be a promising alternative in the determination of the best distinct solutions of the prefit by effectively discerning symmetries among other considerations.Show less
Currently still under construction, the KM3NeT neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean Sea will be used to detect atmospheric and cosmic neutrinos. KM3NeT will consist of large cubic arrays of...Show moreCurrently still under construction, the KM3NeT neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean Sea will be used to detect atmospheric and cosmic neutrinos. KM3NeT will consist of large cubic arrays of large amounts of optical sensors. The detector will exploit Cherenkov radiation emitted by energetic secondary particles. To have an understanding of the performance of the detector, knowing about the performance of the different digital optical modules (DOMs) is vital. Using various methods (mainly potassium decay, 40K -> 40Ca), relative sensitivities of the different DOMs have been measured. However, only rough estimates for absolute efficiencies are known. A novel method will be developed to cross check the results previously found. This research will exploit atmospheric muons and probe the sensitivity of the KM3NeT neutrino telescope. Events in which multiple DOMs in a row detect a muon are used. Both threefold and fourfold combinations are used. Ratios are introduced to describe the fraction of times all DOMs are hit over the outer DOMs. This scales with efficiency. Simulations are used to describe extinction and propagation of Cherenkov photons and muons in water.Show less
